Infront Sports & Media has extended its agreement with the IBU ©Infront Sports & Media

Infront Sports & Media has resigned it marketing rights contract with the International Biathlon Union (IBU) World Championships and World Cup events from 2018 to 2022.

The deal comprises the title sponsorship and key advertising rights throughout the season and includes marketing rights for the 2017 to 2022 IBU Cup Biathlon season, the IBU Open European Championships Biathlon and the IBU Youth/Junior World Championships in the same period.

It will be overseen by Infront’s wholly-owned subsidiary Infront Austria, based in Salzburg, and was confirmed by the IBU’s Executive Board.

The agreement between Infront Sports & Media, a leading sports marketing company, and the IBU was initially penned in 2002 and has since been regularly prolonged.

The current contract, which began in 2014 and runs out in two years’ time, was signed at the IBU Congress in 2012 in Merano in Italy.

“The IBU is very pleased to have one of the main marketing firms, Infront, as an important global partner to further develop and promote the sport of biathlon,” IBU President Anders Besseberg said.

“It came as no surprise to me that the IBU Executive Board and the key IBU Member Federations unanimously voted in favour of prolonging the present contract with Infront for the period 2018-2022.”

The deal includes all IBU World Cup and World Championship events ©Getty Images
The deal includes all IBU World Cup and World Championship events ©Getty Images

IBU secretary general Nicole Resch believes the deal will help the promotion of the sport and will prove crucial to generating more income from their flagship and second-tier events.

“We have been enjoying a very constructive atmosphere in jointly developing not only the strategy for marketing in the IBU World Cups and WCHs, but also for our ‘second league’, namely the IBU Cup, Open European Championships and also Youth and Junior World Championships,” she said.

“Infront and its partners have been contributing to develop these events that are not live on TV and don’t generate income.

“This shows the dedication and long-term commitment that the IBU members and Organising Committees appreciate.

“I look forward to many joint tasks to come that will promote our Olympic winter sport, while maintaining its core value, the biathlon family.”

The extension of the partnership follows French free-to-air broadcaster L'Équipe 21 securing the rights to all IBU events from this past season onwards.

An exact time-frame on the deal has not been confirmed.